Nikon Z6 features 4K N-LOG, 10bit HDMI output and 120fps 1080p

[Mokara]

In camera vibration reduction carries a asterisk noting that it is the first among their ILCs (but not first among non-ILCs by implication). The P1000 also has 5 stop "in camera vibration reduction" which AFAIK is software based. If that is true then the cameras do not have real IBIS. 

High speed frame rates are done at 12 bits.

Focus points are not necessarily all PD, some are CD (I am guessing most). Also, not all of them may be available outside of single point focusing.

[IronFilm]

6 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Ha.  Watched that vid and thought, man, I'm good enough to make something that flawed.  How do I get hired for those types of gigs?

I often wonder that too....

It is all about your connections, and who you know!


Anyway, seems like there is an option to turn down mid range sharpening?

 

7 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

Nikon crashed the mirrorless party in a big way, personally they've exceeded expectations. By the time the Gen2 bodies come out they will be a force to be reckoned with. Hopefully product cycles aren't 4 years like the d850, and instead get D3/4/5 every other year updates. I'm sure we see more bodies - APS-c and a a9 competitor - before the 2020 Olympics too. Like the Dpreview guys, I'm going to call it the Zed. In a year or so when more lenses are out, used Z6's will be on my radar. I just don't want to buy yet another new card at the moment.

I'm experiencing GAS so bad when watching the videos about the Z6!
But yeah, no harm in waiting for secondhand bodies to appear. 
Plus as I don't really buy into the whole "bigger must be always better" argument, I'm also keen to wait and see what Nikon will do for DX mirrorless!
Imagine a camera identical to the Z6 but with an APS-C sensor but for say US$1.2K? That would be dreamy. Same price as an a6500, but 10x better. (20x better if they give us a flip out screen!)

Although, I'll keep an eye on eBay prices for D750/D7500/D500, I might possibly just give in and buy another DSLR instead. 

But no rush, sound gear purchases is burning up plenty of bags of cash of mine instead! Lectrosonics SR/SMQV/etc are bloody expensive. 

 

6 hours ago, Márcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

A thing that Nikon could REALLY be innovative - sometimes people just need more battery life, does not need the full vertical grip thing. Instead of having only the traditional vertical grip with batteries, the could make a smaller bottom attached battery only, chargeable by USB with Quickcharge 3.0. The EN-EL5 have 1900mah, the probably could make a bottom battery pack with few milimeters height with 4000mah capacity (some phones have this capacity).

I agree, a "slim" battery grip (but doesn't even have a vertical grip! As it is a "slim" version) would be a handy innovation for many mirrorless shooters who just want a bit more time between battery swaps. 

Actually, this seems like something a third party supplier could innovate and supply? (if Nikon doesn't lock you out with a firmware update... gah)
Imagine if you could buy slim battery body extensions ("body extensions" seems like a better name, than "grips" as it wouldn't even have a vertical grip) for say $75 a pop then you could happily buy say three of these to get you through a day. 
 

[IronFilm]

5 hours ago, Charbax said:

Only one XQD card slot? But that's not acceptable for any serious pro, is it? Only one slot means some Z6/Z7 owners most definitely will lose everything, which is unacceptable if you're doing a paid job. Dual card slots is a requirement!

For many photo pros this won't matter, if you're a studio shooter for instance you will be sending the pics on the fly to the client monitor anyway. 

It is just the pro shooters out in the field which will want the second slot. 

And yet, there are still lots of pros shooting with say a D7500 or the older Sonys which all only had a single card slot. Thus it is less of a deal breaker than some people make it out to be. 

Yes, we wish it had a second slot, even if just a teeny one for a Micro SD! (as even if just a back up to JPEGs is better than nothing)

But still, it isn't the massive dealbreaker it is for many people that some make it out to be. It is just Sony fanboys grasping for straws in trying to talk down what Nikon has achieved ?

And of course for us filmmakers on EOSHD, the lack of a 2nd slot matters even less. As none of us ever really use dual slots for video in stills cameras? (well, aside from a few exceptions I'm sure)

 

[webrunner5]

2 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

But still, it isn't the massive dealbreaker it is for many people that some make it out to be. It is just Sony fanboys grasping for straws in trying to talk down what Nikon has achieved ?

And of course for us filmmakers on EOSHD, the lack of a 2nd slot matters even less. As none of us ever really use dual slots for video in stills cameras? (well, aside from a few exceptions I'm sure)

 

 

[jhnkng]

Overall I’m very excited by the Z7, if the video AF is as good as the description (and the sample vids look very promising) I may be found the replacement for my c100mk2. They are different animals for sure, but given that I was shooting stills on Nikon for years before moving to Fuji it’s nice to go back to my whole lens kit.

Regarding battery life, I’m guessing the best thing to do is what Fuji shooters do — turn it off when you’re not shooting. Less useful for video, but with stills I regularly get 800 shots per battery from my xpro2 by turning on to shoot and then turning it straight off again. Hopefully the Z will turn on and off like their regular DSLRs so that will work. 

 

[webrunner5]

11 minutes ago, jhnkng said:

Overall I’m very excited by the Z7, if the video AF is as good as the description (and the sample vids look very promising) I may be found the replacement for my c100mk2. They are different animals for sure, but given that I was shooting stills on Nikon for years before moving to Fuji it’s nice to go back to my whole lens kit.

Regarding battery life, I’m guessing the best thing to do is what Fuji shooters do — turn it off when you’re not shooting. Less useful for video, but with stills I regularly get 800 shots per battery from my xpro2 by turning on to shoot and then turning it straight off again. Hopefully the Z will turn on and off like their regular DSLRs so that will work. 

 

Really? Nah, Really? ?

[jhnkng]

43 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

Really? Nah, Really? ?

My whole philosophy for buying gear is to buy the camera that does the most stuff, and hire everything else. As much as I love my C100mk2, most of my jobs are in stills, so it tends to just sit in a bag most of the time. There's tons that I'd still prefer about it, from the long battery life, dual card recording, proper audio, and not needing to rig it with anything -- but I can always hire it if I need it. My last video job I was shooting stills and motion and switching back and forth, and for a few shots when I didn't have time to switch, I just shot it with my X-T2 and it looked great. I see the Z7 as a higher resolution X-T2 with better AF, so that's my draw to it.

[Trek of Joy]

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

I'm experiencing GAS so bad when watching the videos about the Z6!
But yeah, no harm in waiting for secondhand bodies to appear. 
Plus as I don't really buy into the whole "bigger must be always better" argument, I'm also keen to wait and see what Nikon will do for DX mirrorless!
Imagine a camera identical to the Z6 but with an APS-C sensor but for say US$1.2K? That would be dreamy. Same price as an a6500, but 10x better. (20x better if they give us a flip out screen!)

Although, I'll keep an eye on eBay prices for D750/D7500/D500, I might possibly just give in and buy another DSLR instead. 

But no rush, sound gear purchases is burning up plenty of bags of cash of mine instead! Lectrosonics SR/SMQV/etc are bloody expensive. 

Yeah, a Z6 body/evf/lcd would make a badass a6500 competitor. Though crop version would look funny with the smaller sensor in the big mount. But APS-c is where the volume lies, eventually they will enter that space, hopefully sooner rather than later. I get cashing in on the high-end, high margin hype, but there needs to be a couple bodies for the masses and they need to keep cranking out new product to hog the spotlight. Thom Hogan said they have a couple DX prototypes. He also said something I haven't seen elsewhere, the lens focus rings can be programmed for something else like aperture when the camera is in AF.

If the 14-30 was available now, I'd probably give the Z6 a serious look when it starts shipping in a  couple months. Fortunately for my credit card (and my marriage) we won't see it until sometime next year. Till then, I'll definitely rent one when Lens Rentals has them available. That 28/1.4 is calling me though...

Chris

[KnightsFan]

17 minutes ago, Stryfe said:

With no video line to protect not sure why the cameras are stuck at 30p.

Is it possible that Nikon doesn't have the processor tech to do 4k/60p with the necessary cooling in a mirrorless body? I wouldn't be surprised, since this is their first one.

20 minutes ago, Stryfe said:

Just not seeing enough of of the Z6 that my NX1 can't already over the past 4 years.  I'm sure the low light will be remarkable, but outside of that I can't really buy into it.

That's my feeling. It seems like an upgrade from the NX1, but not worth the upgrade cost for me. Maybe a good deal on a used Z6 in a year or two would make me bite.

However, I have high hopes for the next generation of Nikon mirrorless. After all, the GH4 did 10 bit HDMI, and then the GH5 had it internally, AND had H.265 for some modes. If Nikon does a similar upgrade with 10 bit internal H.265, that would almost certainly be a top choice.

[IronFilm]

7 hours ago, Django said:

In other related news:

"The Nikon Z6 is the World’s first mirrorless camera that can output a 4K full frame image in 10-bit 4:2:2 externally and Atomos has just announced that their Ninja V will support the Nikon Z cameras from launch with N-Log support. Nikon is already showing the Ninja V together with the Nikon Z6 & Z7 at the launch events." newsshooter.com

"You can connect external recording devices with HDMI cable and record 4K UHD uncompressed files at the same time. HDMI output with 10 bit * with deep color depth of about 1,073,746 thousand colors is also possible. It supports ATOMOS Open Protocol, and even when shooting with 4K UHD, you can start / stop recording of the same Protocol compatible HDMI recorder with the movie shooting button on the camera." nikon.co.jp

It also means you don't have to worry about any record limits! ?
 

3 hours ago, Danyyyel said:

Have people seen that because I did not see anyone mention it, you hve some kind of look up table that is applied to the LCD so that you can setup exposure while recordng in log

Nice! That is a very very good feature. 

He also mentions that have timecode feature (but no details given :-/ )

That is VERY GOOD NEWS!

[Mokara]

2 hours ago, Stryfe said:

Great for the Nikon camp, should stop those looking into Sony, but i'm not as blown away by it as I thought I would.  With no video line to protect not sure why the cameras are stuck at 30p.  Also it's kinda of hard to go back once I started using dual card slots in my A7III.  Plus they making you buy way more expensive XQD cards.  There is nothing on the cameras that can't be done utilizing basic SD cards.  Unless they are going to have an upgrade in the future for raw video then it's totally pointless additional expense.  

Also not sold on the AF yet.  Not sure how you go from abysmal video AF in your flagship DSLR D850 to class leading AF in one year for the Z series.   Do like the top panel, 144Mbps bit rate and 10-Bit HDMI out but it seemed like they cut a corners to try to justify the D850's existence.  

Just not seeing enough of of the Z6 that my NX1 can't already over the past 4 years.  I'm sure the low light will be remarkable, but outside of that I can't really buy into it.  

Hopefully they'll have a Z8 to take on the A9II with 60p, dual slots & internal 10 bit.  Wouldn't mind Sony updated the A7III to 10 bit & 150Mbps as well.  Not in love with the video when compared to the NX1.

Because the processor would overheat and shut down if they tried. 4K60p and 10 bit are not there for a reason, and it has nothing to do with deliberate crippling.

[jonpais]

2 minutes ago, Mokara said:

Because the processor would overheat and shut down if they tried. 4K60p and 10 bit are not there for a reason, and it has nothing to do with deliberate crippling.

Thank you.

[newfoundmass]

Having had the chance to watch a bunch of videos and read a bunch of stuff, overall I'm encouraged by these two cameras. There really does seem to be a lot to like here. Still I don't think it's quite there for those of us that are primarily video shooters. While I feel like the lack of dual card slots has been blown out of proportion, it is disappointing and a strike right out the gate. Not a deal killer for me, but something I've come to expect since shooting with the LS300 and the GH5. 

I'm also not big on the choice to use fly by wire for the lenses. I'd at least like to see something similar to what Olympus does with their f/1.2 primes and the MF clutch. I also agree with Jordan Drake that since it's fly by wire they should at least allow you to change focusing direction. 

While no other FF camera has 4k 60p it's still disappointing that it's not possible, even externally (like I can with the LS300.) Prior to getting the GH5 it was never that big of a deal, but after having and using it, it'd be hard to go back to a camera without it.

The ergonomics look good. Big buttons, spaced out nicely, a beefy grip. But that was to be expected. The lack of flip out screen though is a real bummer. I'm really not sure why every camera manufacturer hasn't gone that way yet. 

Overall the video looks pretty pleasing. I look forward to seeing it more out in the wild in capable hands. AF in video looks good too, comparable to Sony and maybe even a little better. 

The important thing overall is that they're in the game now and really seem to be taking mirrorless seriously. While right now it's not a viable option for me, and I think the A7Siii will inevitably blow these two cameras away for video (it has to right?), I think we're really going to see Nikon really step their game up and by the 2nd or 3rd generation they'll be competitive with video shooters. If by some chance the A7Siii doesn't blow it out of the water, then they might be there already. 

It's an exciting time for sure! 

[newfoundmass]

1 hour ago, Stryfe said:

Well if that's the case then people better be prepared to be be disappointing in the A7SIII.

I'm not convinced the A7Siii will have 4k 60p internally but just because one camera company isn't able to implement it for those reasons (overheating) doesn't mean that another can't. I imagine a lot of R&D has gone into trying to make 60p possible in 4k on Sony cameras. One of them will be able to do it eventually, some sooner than others. 

[Yurolov]

"With the use of an HDMI cable and an Atomos recorder, you can record the worlds first 10-bit footage from a hybrid full frame camera. Pretty exciting!"

I think Erik sums it up pretty nicely here. Fact is you will be getting beautiful color in 10 bit with a robust codec. Recording in camera in a mirroless camera doesn't leave enough headroom in terms of bit rate. If you want something cinematic you will be recording externally regardless. But if you want run and gun, the ninja v is quite small, and even without it you get nikon color, good af and a robust internal codec. Seems a winner to me.  

[Django]

Apparently Atomos actually helped Nikon develop the 10-bit N-Log..

 

[Mokara]

5 hours ago, Stryfe said:

Well if that's the case then people better be prepared to be be disappointing in the A7SIII.

Pretty unlikely that Sony will be using Nikon's processor. If they use the same processor for the A7SIII that they used in the A7III then it will not have 4K60p, but if they introduce a next gen processor then chances are it will.

11 hours ago, Danyyyel said:

Thats what Dpreview said in their video about autofocus in video from someone who questioned that they said AF was better than Sony, "Yes, video tracking AF is far more usable and accurate on the Z 7 than a Sony Alpha camera (where you have to first engage 'Center Lock-on AF', an old and unintuitive algorithm)."

AF performance looks pretty crappy based on the video that has appeared so far. Unless they don't have the cameras set up properly (entirely possible) from what I could tell the camera seems slow to find new focus and often is not focusing on the proper point.

[pszilard]

I think I prefer the Fujifilm X-H1. Better size and price and video with 1 caveat: moire/staircasing. Wonder how the Nikon will perform in real life.

[Geoff CB]

Waiting to see the one thing that hasn't been addressed, how good is the rolling shutter on the camera?

[Simon Young]

This infamous dude at least shot portions of this video with the Z7 and the colors look good. The footage not shot on the Nikon is shot with the a7iii and has the trademarked Sony zombie colors, it becomes very apparent.

 

He also says in the commentaries that the battery life at least seems better than the CIPA rating. Which is a slight relief.

 

https://youtu.be/X2kcBclF40M